The construction industry is widely changing its path towards the greater future. Encouraging in giving limitless opportunities for the innovation of brand new materials from creative heads. At present, many materials like cement, clay, wood, bamboo, and bricks have been widely in use for decades but are being worn out too soon.
Currently, modern building creators are changing their construction ideology towards choosing new and sustainable materials. Designers are becoming scientists in creating eco-friendly materials, energy-efficient, lightweight, durable, aesthetically beautiful, and highly functional. Few of them are yet in the development phase –
- Sugarcrete bricks :
The University of London and Grimshaw together work on the bio-building component from sugarcane straw/waste. Sugarcrete bricks are made to be load-bearing elements, insulating panels, roofing, and flooring systems. Since cement and concrete generate harmful emissions and consume a greater rate of energy, sugarcrete bricks turn out to be a good replacement.
The Sugarcrete has a shape that forms an interconnected polyhedron based on post-tensioned tying rods located at the perimeter of the structure. This is a dry masonry system that has reduced the steel content by ninety percent. The exclusion of steel from the system of sugarcrete and the joining of plates by sugarcane fibres with different densities have helped in getting rid of the usual concrete cracks. When it comes to time, a person won’t have to wait for ages, because the benefits of the Sugarcrete system in terms of green construction are more temporal than historical.
A prototype was made by interlocking the Sugarcrete bricks which turned out to be reusable, fire resistant, and demountable.
- Light-generative concrete :
The light-generating cement tiles are one of the energy-saving materials, which absorbs the natural sunlight during the daytime and utilises it in the nighttime. This allows the crystallisation properties for breaking up and allows the light to pass through, making it opaque constitutes the innovation in this medium.
This type of cement is usually used in pools, cycling tracks, pavements, and facades and is also used for signage boards due to its light-emitting property.
- Breathe bricks :
Breathe bricks are introduced to constitute bricks being a part of the ventilation system for the buildings. It helps filter the polluted outdoor air into healthy breathable air in indoor spaces.
It acts as a barrier to restrict the harmful polluted air into the buildings which doesn’t need any energy for its function as it works with temperature and pressure.
Based on the experiments, it says that breathable bricks remove 30% of fine particles and 100% of coarse particles from the outdoors and only permit healthy air into indoors.
4. Self-healing concrete :
Back in 2015, inventor Henk Jonkers from Delft University of Technology discovered a method of healing cracks in concrete through bacteria. The technology behind it is simple: the capsules of bacteria and some nutrients needed were added to the concrete: this bacteria starts working as soon as water hits the surface.
The bacteria helps the cracked concrete to heal by moisture, filled with limestone.
Many other scientists are proving that self-healing of concrete can happen by adding capsules of some polymer to concrete, which deals with sunlight and moisture and also swells up and eventually fills the crack.
Adding to that, in recent times, American scientists developed “bio-concrete”. It works as an enzyme is added to CO2 crystals which resonates properties of concrete. As a result, the cracks are filled adding strength to the concrete, and also heals approximately 1 mm crack in a day.
- An Edible Building material made up of Food waste :
A company called Fabula from the University of Tokyo developed the edible building material which is 4 times stronger in strength than concrete. The material is made with the help of a technique called “heat pressing” which is usually used to make materials like wood powder from wood barks. The food scraps are being used instead. They undergo heat pressing only after being dried and pulverised. There is no limit to the selection of scrap, from tea grounds to orange peels. The powder is mixed with specific seasonings and water. Later, the moulds get pressed into different shapes at high temperatures.
As an experiment, cabbage leaves were used, and as a result, the strength of the material turned out 4 times stronger than concrete. Also, it depends on the raw material.
As the raw material is edible and no adhesives were added to it, it is still an edible building material.
They also stated that it can be used for making furniture, kitchenware, and tools.
- Aerogels :
Aerogels are solid-state materials and low-density which are produced by replacing the gel of a liquid component with gas. The structure retains its original form while reducing its density.
It is also called “liquid smoke” as it visually appears as a semi-transparent substance.
Aerogels work as an outstanding thermal insulator and acoustic insulator.It is best for soundproofing, fireproofing, and for the energy efficiency of buildings.
They are user-friendly, recyclable, and reusable. It can also be produced from organic materials such as cellulose and chitosan.
Final Thoughts :
These new building materials are going to pave the way for some critical developments in the construction sector. They’re set to make future buildings more sustainable, efficient, and resistant to extreme events, which happen to be the major sources of challenges facing this field currently. The widespread use of such materials would however have immense impacts on how the man-made environment will look in years to come.
Citations :
https://civiconcepts.com/blog/innovative-construction-materials
https://www.ribaj.com/products/sugarcrete-sugar-cane-by-product-bagasse-bricks-concrete-carbon-emissions-earthshot
https://sugar-asia.com/sugarcrete-a-new-innovation-made-from-sugarcane-for-a-sustainable-future/
https://cfileonline.org/technology-the-breathe-brick-passively-improves-air-quality/
https://materialdistrict.com/article/an-edible-building-material-made-of-food-waste/
https://www.azobuild.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=8656#:~:text=Aerogels%20possess%20outstanding%20thermal%20and,or%20in%20retrofitting%20existing%20ones.
